Can learning organizations survive in the newer NHS?
Author Information
Author(s): Rod Sheaff, David Pilgrim
Primary Institution: University of Plymouth
Hypothesis
Can the NHS develop into a learning organization despite its complexities and contradictions?
Conclusion
The NHS as a whole cannot become a learning organization, but its individual parts may achieve this to varying degrees.
Supporting Evidence
- The NHS has become more marketized and bureaucratized, complicating the development of learning organizations.
- Some NHS organizations may achieve learning organization status, but constraints limit their ability to learn openly.
- Policies promoting clinical governance and team learning are in place, but implementation is inconsistent.
Takeaway
The NHS is too complicated to be a learning organization, but some parts of it might be able to learn and improve. However, there are limits to how much they can learn openly.
Methodology
The study used a literature review and criterion-based evaluation to assess the characteristics of learning organizations in the context of the NHS.
Potential Biases
The study may be biased by the authors' perspectives on the learning organization model and the NHS's ability to implement it.
Limitations
The study acknowledges that the consensus on learning organizations is a working assumption and may not hold true under empirical testing.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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